diff --git a/scripts/download-node.py b/scripts/download-node.py
index d0bef59..aa00b5e 100644
--- a/scripts/download-node.py
+++ b/scripts/download-node.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 import stat
 import pathlib
 from tomlkit import parse
+import os
 
 logging.getLogger("requests").setLevel(logging.WARNING)
 logging.getLogger("urllib3").setLevel(logging.WARNING)
@@ -29,7 +30,19 @@ def main():
         doc = parse(f.read())
         target_tag = doc["tool"]["neogo"]["tag"]
 
-        r = requests.get("https://api.github.com/repos/nspcc-dev/neo-go/releases")
+        token = os.getenv("GITHUB_TOKEN")
+        if token is None:
+            r = requests.get("https://api.github.com/repos/nspcc-dev/neo-go/releases")
+        else:
+            r = requests.get(
+                "https://api.github.com/repos/nspcc-dev/neo-go/releases",
+                headers={"authorization": f"Bearer {token}"},
+            )
+
+        if r.status_code == 403:
+            raise Exception(
+                f"we probably execeeded the rate limit. Remaining: {r.headers['X-RateLimit-Remaining']}"
+            )
 
         for release in r.json():
             if release["tag_name"] != target_tag: